posted by RJ Johnson - @rickerthewriter -

1 month ago

Some passengers aboard the Southwest flight during a deadly engine failure have received a $5,000 check and a $1,000 travel voucher.

“We value you as our customer and hope you will allow us another opportunity to restore your confidence in Southwest,” Chief Executive Officer Gary Kelly wrote. “In this spirit, we are sending you a check in the amount of $5,000 to cover any of your immediate financial needs.”

Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board are still trying to determine why Southwest Flight 1380 saw its left jet engine fail on Tuesday about 20 minutes into the flight. Officials say debris from the engine blew out a window, causing one passenger, Jennifer Riordan, to almost get sucked out of a window - but not before other people managed to drag her back into the cabin.

Riordan died at a Philadelphia hospital after the plane managed to make an emergency landing.

Southwest will also provide passengers on the flight a $1,000 travel voucher in addition to the money, the letter said. The airline said it would help passengers with assistance with other "necessities," like being reunited with their luggage that was on the flight or other expenses.

The National Transportation Safety Board says they are still working on their initial examination of the plane' deadly engine failure, but it's still unclear why the engine malfunctioned 20 minutes into the flight. The plane's engine had undergone a visual inspection just two days before the fatal incident, the airline said.

It was the first passenger death on a Southwest flight in the company's history, and the first on a U.S. commercial airliner since 2009.